Marital status has been identified as an important social factor associated with mortality. Studies of this association conducted in the United States [1, 2], European countries [3] and Japan [4, 5] have shown that the risk of mortality for widowed, divorced, or single persons is 1.2 to 2.5-fold higher than for married persons. In the 1970s, an exceptionally high annual mortality rate was reported among Japanese singles (65 per 1000) compared to other countries (15–35 per 1000), possibly due to the high prevalence of tuberculosis [6, 7]. One possible explanation for this finding is that, according to the customs associated with Japanese traditional arranged marriages, unhealthy individuals, such as those with a history of tuberculosis, could not get married, thus leading to a preponderance of healthy individuals in the married population [4].

In Japan, the divorce rate rose from about 2 percent between 1970 and 1974 to 10 percent between 1995 and 1999 with a corresponding drop in marriage rate from 92 to 69 percent [8], while the proportion of widowed persons rose from 6 to 21 percent [8]. A recent 7-year prospective study of 11,565 Japanese aged 40–69 found a risk of all-cause mortality among single men and women that was twice as high as that among their married counterparts, but the effects of divorce or widowhood on mortality were not be thoroughly examined in that study due to the limited number of deaths [9].

In general, married people are more likely to engage in positive and less likely to engage in negative health behaviors than widowed, divorced, or single people [10–13]. Some studies have suggested that the social ties, social networks, and/or social support, which marriage often provides, may reduce the risk of mortality [8, 14, 15]. Moreover, women in Japan tend to receive more social supports from the national government and from their relatives than do men. For instance, widows receive their deceased husband's pension as well as their own from the government, but widowers only their own pension. In addition, the national government provides child support for divorced women. Finally, many Japanese women return to live with their parents after a divorce (16%) or live with their children after their spouse's death (64%) [16]. Hence, there could be gender differences in adapting to the loss or the absence of a spouse among Japanese.

For the present study, we hypothesized that the risk of mortality from major diseases and all causes would be higher among widowed, divorced, and single persons than among those who are married. We also hypothesized that the excess mortality would be higher for men compared to women. The aim of this study was to analyze the association between marital status and mortality, and further to analyze if these associations were different between men and women.

This study examined a total of 110,792 individuals (46,465 men and 64,327 women aged 40 to 79) who participated in the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study for Evaluation of Cancer Risk Sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (JACC Study). During 1988–1990, individuals living in 45 communities across Japan voluntarily participated in this study and completed self-administered questionnaires including lifestyles and medical histories of previous cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline. Details of the study procedure were described previously [17]. Informed consent was obtained prior to completing the questionnaire. We used participant's responses to a question regarding marital status: "What is your marital status (married, widowed, divorced or single)?" However, a total of 1,486 men and 2,015 women were excluded from the analysis because the question on marital status was omitted in two communities (4%). A total of 39,471 men and 54,591 women (aged 40 to 79) provided a valid response to this question, and the response rate to this question was 88% for both men and women. Of this group, we also excluded 1,690 men and 2,308 women from the analysis due to a positive history of stroke, coronary heart disease or cancer at baseline. Therefore, the responses of 37,781 men and 52,283 women were included in the analysis of this study.

Similar to men, widowed women were approximately 10 years older than married women, but there was no difference in mean age among divorced, single and married women. Unmarried women were more likely to be current smokers and to have low interest in health screening compared with married women. Unlike men, single women were likely to be more educated, employed, to have high perceived stress and to consume more ethanol compared with married women. The proportion having a history of hypertension was lower in divorced and single women and higher in widowed women, and that of diabetes was higher in unmarried women than married women. The results of psychological variables and the proportion of having a child in women were very similar to those in men.

During 892,998 person-years of follow-up, a total of 8,365 deaths (5,011 men, 3,354 women) occurred. Of these, 1,085 (585 men, 500 women) were attributable to stroke, 490 (294 men, 196 women) to coronary heart disease, 2,388 (1,326 men, 1,062 women) to cardiovascular disease, 3,339 (2,084 men, 1,255 women) to cancer, 857 (591 men, 266 women) to respiratory disease, and 364 (386 men, 248 women) to external causes.

Furthermore, the excess risk of mortality due to cardiovascular disease and all causes associated with single status was more evident in men than in women (for interaction: p = 0.02 and p = 0.20, respectively). The excess risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease and all causes associated with widowhood was also more evident in men than in women (for interaction: p = 0.14 and p = 0.003, respectively). Furthermore, the excess risks of mortality from cardiovascular disease, external causes and all causes associated with divorced were more evident in men than in women (for interaction: p = 0.17, p = 0.02 and p = 0.02, respectively).

We repeated the analysis after excluding deaths during the first two years of follow-up to reduce the potential effect of as-yet-undiagnosed diseases on the associations, but we found no substantial changes in the above associations (not shown).

In this large prospective analysis, it was found that, after adjustment of potentially confounding variables, the risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, external causes, and all causes was two- to three-fold higher for never-married than for married men. A smaller, but significantly higher mortality risk from all causes was observed for never-married women.

A higher risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease, external causes and all causes associated with divorce and widowhood was identified men, but not in women. The reason for this gender-based discrepancy may be that, unlike for men, the full-time employment rate was higher for both widowed and divorced women than for married women. Such labor force participation is likely to result in greater financial security and a more extensive social network. Compared with widowed or divorced men, moreover, widowed or divorced women receive more financial protection from the Japanese national government through widows' pensions and child support. Furthermore, Japanese women are generally unlikely to experience a drastic change in their social support network after becoming divorced or widowed [16]. These circumstances are likely to be responsible for the gender differences in mortality risks among Japanese.

The excess all-cause mortality risk associated with divorce or widowhood was larger in younger than in older men, a finding which is consistent with previously reported results [1, 18, 19]. In these previous studies, higher mortality was noted among widowed or divorced men and women soon after these life-changing events, but this excess risk declined with age. The excess mortality risks associated with being widowed or divorced and seen earlier in life gradually diminished later in life, probably because people in such groups tend to build certain health-enhancing environments that compensate for the loss or absence of a spouse.

An unusually high excess mortality rate was reported among Japanese singles due to the high prevalence of tuberculosis during the 1970s and 1980s [6, 7]. There was no death from tuberculosis among the current study population, and there was only a small difference in the percentage of subjects with a history of tuberculosis between singles (16%) and married (11%). It can therefore be safely assumed that the excess mortality risks among singles in the present study were not attributable to tuberculosis infection, but rather to other factors such as psychosocial and environmental factors and/or lifestyles.

Marriage generally has a beneficial effect on health because it provides social support and social security and married persons are likely to experience less distress and to have a healthier lifestyle [12, 13]. Marriage may also buffer against stress and thereby reduce the activation of neuroendocrine systems [20], which may lead to a reduction in the progression of atherosclerosis and other pathologic processes [21–24]. Previous prospective studies showed that weakened social ties and continued social isolation were associated with increased risk of mortality from coronary heart disease [14] and mortality from all causes [25] for both men and women.

In the study presented here, unmarried men and women tended to engage in more risk-promoting health behaviors (i.e., smoking, little physical activity, and low interest in health screening) and to experience more psychological distress (i.e., feelings of hopelessness and not being trusted, absence of joy and fulfillment) than did their married counterparts. In addition, unmarried men tended to have low socioeconomic status associated with low education and unemployment. On the other hand, more unmarried women were likely to be employed and to be more educated than their married counterparts.

Our study has several limitations. First, there is the possibility of a confounding effect from residual factors on the association between marital status and risk of mortality. Although adjustments were made for various risk factors for mortality, the possible influence of other risk factors and lifestyles cannot be ruled out. Second, differential follow-up among marital status categories may have affected the results since subjects who moved from their original community were treated as censored cases. In this study, the percentages of subjects who moved out of the communities examined were 3.0% for married, 4.0% for widowed, 9.6% for divorced and 8.1% for single men, and the corresponding percentages for women were 3.2%, 5.0%, 9.6% and 5.1%. Therefore, if it is assumed the mortality rates for censored subjects were similar or greater than those for uncensored subjects, the relationship of marital status and mortality may have been underestimated for both men and women. Third, since the study was not designed to analyze the effect of marital transitions, marital status measurements were not repeated during the follow-up. For example, misclassification resulting from the transition from marriage to widowhood may be more common among older than younger persons. Thus, the estimates for the association between marital status and mortality could be right-skewed for older subjects. Misclassification bias due to changes in marital status over time, especially from marriage to widowhood, may be particularly prominent among older persons [26].

The strengths of our study are its prospective design and large sample size, yielding high statistical power for detecting the effects of gender- and age-stratified marital status on mortality. It was also possible to clarify the associations between mortality and cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease, external causes as well as all causes. Finally, this study demonstrated gender differences in the excess risks of mortality.

Single status was associated with a higher risk of mortality than was married status for both men and women. Divorce and widowhood were associated with elevated mortality risk for men, but not for women. These findings suggest single, divorce or widowhood status constitute potentially adverse health effects. The current decline in the marriage rate combined with increasing percentages of single, divorced, and widowed people may thus become an important public health issue, in terms not only of population aging but also of mortality.